By Marlyn Montilla
22 Jul 2024, 16:37 PM EDT
New York police have seized more than $10 million worth of illegal drugs at a Bronx nightclub that also served as a front for storing the drugs, authorities said.
Complaints from residents near the club and an inspection of a tobacco shop elsewhere led officials to seek a search warrant for the large, unmarked space that occupies half a block along Timpson Ave. and East 147th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood, officers said.
The joint operation led by the New York City Sheriff’s Office found large quantities of illegal cannabis, THC concentrate, mushrooms and edibles, as well as a firearm, according to Sheriff Anthony Miranda.
“This is probably the largest seizure we’ve made so far,” Miranda said. “And again, this is just distribution, so that’s the amount of product that’s moving through this one location.”
The space was being used as a storage and packaging place for drugs when it was not being used as a nightclub, Miranda explained at a press conference.
“It was a distribution site and there were people who came and used the product right there,” Miranda said.
“I would say it’s a very sophisticated operation,” said Kaz Daughtry, deputy commissioner of operations for the New York Police Department (NYPD), as reported by the New York Post.
This Bronx warehouse is a clear example of how extensive illegal cannabis operations have become in the Big Apple, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters.
“This shows that it’s not just about the spaces where the signs are. It’s hidden in every part of our city and communities. And we’re going to find it and destroy it,” Adams concluded.
The mayor promised to find the main traffickers and thanked the community for reporting the illegal operation.
Authorities began systematically shutting down the city’s roughly 3,400 illegal marijuana shops after a state law in early 2024 gave local police the authority to lock down stores for a year immediately following an inspection.
By early July, the task force had shut down 535 illegal shops, seized $17.5 million worth of illegal cannabis products and handed out more than $43 million in civil penalties, the mayor’s office said.
After the discovery, detectives check documentation, such as shipping papers or fake licenses, to identify large distributors or establish communications with other illegal stores, Miranda said.
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